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Wednesday, October 1, 2014

Stretch Those Muscles...

by Janis Susan May

No, my dear friends, I have not gone
over to the dark side and become an exercise freak. My main idea of
exercise is pushing my luck and jumping to conclusions.

No, I'm talking about a more cerebral
form of exercise – writing. Yeah, a writer regarding writing as
exercise – weird, huh? Only those who do not write would think so.
Writing can be as demanding and exhausting physically as any
calisthenic, but just in a different way. Between the demands of the
body having to stay still, except for the hands and fingers which
work double and triple time, and the mind constantly laboring to
create, writing is downright draining.

The only thing worse is not being able
to write.

Oh, I haven't had writers' block or
physical problems or anything like that. I've had work. My
book-every-two-weeks 30 June-30 October publishing blitz is winding
down (Hallelujah!) but it has been an insane amount of work. Every
book is freshly edited – the re-releases by me, the two new ones
first by me, then by a professional (and very tough!) editor. Then
it's on to my wonderful formatter, who is a delight and puts up with
all my weird fits and starts and – let's be honest – mistakes,
and my extremely gifted cover artist who tries to make my weird ideas
reality. All that, plus all the normal duties of life like family and
laundry and cooking. The Husband has been kind and very supportive,
but he's so anxious for me to get back into the kitchen. Man cannot
be expected to live on frozen pizza alone!

I have always been a writer – wrote
my first 'book' at the tender age of four, and no, it's not part of
this publishing blitz! The creation of stories, of lives and worlds
beyond that of my own rather mundane existence, is like air to me.
Deprivation of it is a hardship.

But deprived I was during this
work-filled summer. New ideas and half-finished manuscripts – I
always work on a minimum of three projects at once – jammed up in
my brain, demanding the release of being written. I tried, but there
are only so many hours in the day and only so much energy, both of
which seem to decrease as I age. Most nights I was too tired even to
read. That, thankfully, is passing, and once more on most days I can
give a short time to my bulging Kindle.

Once more, too, I can begin to write
again. Despite the urgency of the clamoring characters in my head,
the process is slow and tentative, like stretching and then walking
before running. Hesitantly, the words are starting to creep out from
my fingers, almost as if unsure of their welcome. The stories are
coming, building in strength and complexity. I feel almost as if I
were waking from a long sleep.

It is a welcome feeling.

UPDATE :

Believe it or not, my publishing blitz
is still right on schedule. And that schedule is getting shorter –
after this book there are only two more in this particular round. The
Husband is insistent that once this is done I am to take some time
away from the computer and – according to him – reacquaint myself
with the kitchen. He does like frozen pizza and takeaway, but even
the mildest mannered man has his limits!

This fortnight's offering is THE OTHER
HALF OF YOUR HEART, a romantic adventure set in the jungles of Mexico
– not far from Puerto Vallarta, where I lived for a short but happy
while. None of the wild escapades that befall the heroine ever
happened to me (drat!) but writing about a country I love was great
fun.

A
weekend in a Mexican resort with the man she loves quickly becomes a
nightmare of fear and danger for Cara Walters. If she can just
survive being lost in the jungle, captured by the army, hunted by
drug lords and a man who wants to kill her, all the while being held
prisoner by the man who has stalked her, she just might find out who
is the other half of her heart.

And –
for all you calorie lovers – my super-special dessert recipe called
Chocolate Sin (try it and you'll know why it's named that!) was
chosen for inclusion in the new book of desserts called BAKE LOVE
WRITE, a wonderful compendium of calories and advice.